This invention relates generally to fabrics, and more particularly, is directed to a white blackout drapery fabric.
Totally opaque fabrics used primarily for completely darkening or blacking out a window are well known in the art. Basically, such blackout fabrics are commercially manufactured according to one of two methods.
According to the first method, a fabric is backed with a first coat of white acrylic foam, followed by a second coat of an acrylic foam having an opaque color, and finally, by a third coat of white acrylic foam. In accordance with the second known method, a thin vinyl or polyester sheeting having a white color is laminated to the fabric, followed by a second thin vinyl or polyester sheeting having an opaque color which is laminated thereto, and finally, by a third thin vinyl or polyester sheeting having a white color that is also laminated thereto.
However, the blackout fabrics created by these known methods present numerous disadvantages. Specifically, such blackout fabrics are bulky and stiff. In addition, such blackout fabrics drape poorly and are difficult to launder. Still further, such blackout fabrics have a tendency to come apart or delaminate. It is also difficult to make such blackout fabrics fire retardant. Further, it is difficult to stitch such fabrics, and there is a high cost of production of such blackout fabrics.
It has been proposed that a blackout fabric without the aforementioned drawbacks can be made from yarns comprised of core and sheath components in which the core components have a black color and the sheath components have a white color. However, the black core components tend to show through, producing a black or gray appearance, thereby rendering the blackout fabric unsatisfactory from an aesthetic viewpoint.
The use of sheath and core components in fibers is taught generally in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,616,167 to Gosden; 3,700,544 to Matsui; 4,075,378 to Anton et al; 3,316,336 to Smith; 2,932,079 to Horn et al; and 4,059,949 to Lee, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
As an aside, it is desirable in many instances to reduce or prevent the build-up of static electricity in fabrics. Accordingly, it is known to use core components containing carbon black to construct core and sheath fibers. Such components function to discharge static electricity build-up, and have particular utility incertain textile products, such as carpets. However, a large amount of carbon black is required to achieve the desired electrical properties so that the fabric will sufficiently discharge static electricity. Accordingly, such fibers tend to be too dark, and therefore, the final product tends to be unsatisfactory from an aesthetic viewpoint. The static discharging fibers are used in blends with regular white fibers to minimize their blackness, i.e., are usually in a quantity of 1% or less.
In view of this latter problem, various methods have been proposed to inhibit the blackness of the fibers. For example, one proposal has been to make the core in multi-faceted configurations so that light is better deflected. In this regard, U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,307 to Matsui et al discloses a multi-component mixed filament in which at least two spinning materials having poor affinity are mixed in a unitary filament in a nebular configuration. The patent teaches that, by using fibers composed of polyester and polyamide, the filament itself is opaque since polyamide and polyester have different refractive indexes. However, the opacity is not sufficient to make a fiber which has total blackout properties. Accordingly, light is reflected irregularly due to the nebular configuration and the filament is delustered.
Another proposal has been to add TiO.sub.2 or other whitening agents to the sheath components. However, in all such cases, the final product must contain more than 50% sheath components and these fibers must be of a heavy duty, for example, greater than 15 denier. As such, such fibers are too stiff, and therefore, cannot be used with a standard drapery or with apparel.
An example of such core and sheath components is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,803,453 to Hull, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Specifically, it is taught in this patent to use core and sheath components to reduce static electricity by dispersing an electrically conductive carbon black in a thermoplastic synthetic polymer, with the sheath comprising at least 50% of the filament cross-sectional area. In addition, TiO.sub.2 is used with the sheath components. However, with so much carbon black the fiber is essentially black. It is taught that the denier of the filaments should be lower than 50 and preferably less than 25 dpf. However, the lowest denier of the components taught in any example of the patent is 17.2 in Example V, with the denier being as high as 110.6 in Table 3 of the patent. Accordingly, as discussed above, such fibers are too stiff and could not be used with a standard drapery.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,264 to Naruse et al, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a similar arrangement of using carbon black and TiO.sub.2, for use with core and sheath components but because of the relative proportions results in a black fiber.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,531,368 to Okamoto et al, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses, in Example IV thereof, the use of two polyethylene terephthalates having an intrinsic viscosity of 0.68 and 0.50, respectively, which are used as the polymers to make up a very fine filament part, in which the first polyethylene terephthalate contains 0.05% of TiO.sub.2 and 0.55% of carbon black, and the second polyethylene terephthalate has a high brilliancy. The drawn yarn consists of 16 filaments, each of which is 3.0 denier. The polyethylene terephthalate containing carbon black is uniformly dispersed in the polyethylene terephthalate having a brilliancy when the filament is viewed in cross-section. However, the filament is deep black in color and has a brilliancy, which is undesirable for producing a white blackout fabric.
Other references which are less relevant than those discussed above are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,051,545 to Media; 2,880,056 to Carr et al which discloses synthetic components having a natural crimp; and 3,249,669 to Jamieson.
A further drawback with prior art bi-component fibers is that such fibers, by themselves, cannot be used to make a fabric because of their blackness. As a consequence of this, a fabric made with prior art bi-component fibers has generally been blended with other fibers to give the fabric a whiteness.